


Did She Just Call Me MOM?

by MissSalvaforbeson



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Annabelle Mikaelson, F/M, Family, Friendship, Original Family, Originals family bonding, no The Originals show
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-23
Updated: 2016-03-26
Packaged: 2018-05-28 13:57:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6331894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissSalvaforbeson/pseuds/MissSalvaforbeson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Can you imagine a future for Klaus and Caroline? Caroline had asked herself the question a thousand times, but never came across a perfect answer. What happens When the future itself comes knocking at her door? *set in the beginning of season 4</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1: Knock, knock. Who's there?

**Author's Note:**

> A.N.  
> I think the title kind of speaks for itself.  
> Okay. So I was reading some Daroline fics and I noticed one of the recurrent themes was their child dropping in on them from the future. I tried to search for some Klaroline ones with the same thing but none came up. So I decided to come up with my own…  
> As for those of you who must be wondering how Caroline, being a vampire, gets pregnant; I'll explain the thing in the story. The pregnancy-how-it-happens-inspiration has been taken form MarsterRoo's 'On the Run' so all credit for the idea belongs to her.  
> Well, enjoy and let me know if I should continue. You know, in case you like it.  
> P.S. the first chapter will be short.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own VD or any of the characters other than Annabelle Mikaelson. However I'd love owning Klaus, if they'd only give him to me.

The 18 year old immortal groaned as she fell on the ground, grasping onto the hard object beside her for support. The world blacked out around her and she snapped her eyes shut tightly trying not to let the dizziness get to her. Well, more than it already had anyway. She felt the ground below her disappear and she gasped, fearing she'd start falling. But nothing happened. Other than the darkness and swirling butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling, that is.  
She shrieked as the darkness deepened around her and she opened her eyes only to be blinded by a bright ray of light.

 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Annabelle opened her eyes and squinted at the scenery around her. She was lying on the ground in the middle of a forest that somehow seemed familiar to her. She frowned, sitting up in a flash. Wait. How exactly did I come here again?  
As if on cue her mind began a replay of everything that had happened. Her aunt. The spell. The darkness. And then she'd been taken to god knows where. God! Why did she have to do the stupid spell in the first place! And what frustrated her more was that she did not have anyone else to blame but herself. After all she'd been the one to hound her aunt for the last three weeks trying to learn magic. Her aunt had refused straightaway, telling her that she wasn't a witch and as much as she tried wouldn't be able to do magic. It was unnatural but being the stubborn girl that she was she did not let the matter rest and finally, reluctantly, her aunt agreed to help her. She had smirked smugly (her father's trademark smirk) as she heard her aunt utter those words.  
Well, she had learnt it from him anyway. The smirk, i.e. and manipulation. It was one of the many things she'd gotten from him, aside from the obvious ones such as his temper, his charming personality (whenever he showed it), and her most favorite one- his eyes. His penetrating blue eyes that her mother had once admitted were one of the many things that had made it exceptionally hard for her to resist him. And his accent, of course- that had been one of the melting points, yes. Another thing she'd gotten from her father was his stubbornness- but then again she could say the same thing about her mother. She was the same as her mother in many ways too- physically her beautiful golden hair and her figure. From the back many people mistook them to be the same. Annabelle too was like her mother when it came to all the girly stuff- she absolutely LOVED shopping, sappy romantic movies, junk food- a thing she always loved doing with her mom and aunt (the aunt from her father's side, not the witchy one).  
Annabelle wondered what they must be thinking right then, or whether if they'd started panicking by now. Knowing her parents they were probably freaking out big time. Her mother was probably worried sick running around rampant all through the town (and the country too, soon) looking for her. Her father was most definitely livid- not angry-on-her livid but angry-for-her livid. She groaned wondering how they would react on finding out what exactly she had been trying to do in the first place.  
It wasn't like they didn't know about her sudden interest in witchcraft. Her mother had played mediator to her demands a countless times, upon being persuaded by her aunt. But they didn't know that she'd been sneaking into her uncle and aunt's room once in a while and occasionally peeping the Grimoire, for some cool stuff to try. They'd definitely get pissed about that.  
She had been trying to look for a spell to try, convinced that her aunt wasn't exactly teaching her anything remotely important. Nothing major anyway; just some minor stuff like weather and planting. Well, she was fed up with minor. Annabelle Mikaelson did not do minor.  
So she did it. Something major.  
And look where I am now, she thought grumbling. She could literally picture how her aunt would react when she reached home. Saying that she'd be pissed would be an understatement. She'd say, with her hands on her hips and all, "you, young lady, are in some serious trouble".  
She'd probably smile sheepishly back and reply with a nervous chuckle, "Well, look at the bright side. Now you know for sure that I've got some real potential".  
Well, it was true. Whatever the spell was had definitely worked. Wrongly but who cares? It worked. Bu it was still wrong! She'd been transported to the forest. How's that cool? She hadn't known what the spell would do on reading the scripture. It was all weird squiggles and it had taken her a long time to read them out loud. And before she knew it, she was here. It was a spell in the restricted section of the grimoire, which further deepened her curiosity. If one asked for her opinion though, the spell should have been a part of the 'Don't Even Bother' section. Maybe then she wouldn't have read it. Maybe.  
She sighed and focused her attention back to her surroundings. She smiled and said out loud, "well, at least I'm still in Mystic Falls."  
She raced through the forest cover and stopped right at the edge, wondering where she should go. Knowing her aunt would be there, her parent's Mansion was out of option. So that left the Boarding House.  
"Oh well", she muttered and raced there.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Annabelle stood outside the huge doors and knocked. She knew that though the house was huge, if someone was in there they'd definitely hear her. Supernatural hearing and all.  
She swayed on the heels to and fro, waiting for someone to open the door. She was about to knock again when the door opened and Annabelle stared into the face of the beautiful blonde vampire. Caroline Forbes smiled at her and got surprise when Annabelle squealed suddenly and threw her arms around her. Caroline, not expecting the hug, lost her balance slightly but then perfected herself.  
"Mom! I am so glad to see you! I was so scared; I didn't know what the spell would do. I'm really sorry; I promise I'd never ever disobey you or Dad ever again. And of course Aunt Bonnie. And Grandma. And, well, just about anyone who tells me not to do something. I'm so so sorry, Mom!"  
Annabelle looked up, breathing a little hard because of exhausting her entire breath in rambling out what she did. Guess it was one more of her similarities with her Mom- her inability to know when to shut up.  
Caroline seemed completely baffled, much to her surprise. Her words seemed to have put her in a frozen shock. Annabelle frowned. It wasn't any surprise to her mother that she talked so much. What then?  
It was then that she noticed the ones standing behind her mother with equal expressions of slack-jawed shock. Aunt Elena, Uncle Stefan and Uncle Damon- all more or less having the same facial expression.  
Annabelle frowned at them all and asked a little self-consciously, "what?"  
"did she just call me Mom?", Caroline asked in a whisper after having gotten the control over her speech back. Everyone heard it but none knew what to reply.


	2. Chapter 2: SHOCK is a five letter word

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annabelle gives some answers...

Annabelle's eyes were on Caroline as she flitted from one corner of the room to the other in vampire speed. She stopped suddenly, looked at the girl claiming to be her daughter, shook her head at herself, groaned and started pacing again. This continued several times. Annabelle's eyes remained fixed on her mother as she continued to freak out.  
Well, you'd freak out too if you were in her place, she thought, after all it's not every day someone drops on you and claims to be your daughter from the future.  
She giggled to herself even though there was nothing amusing about the situation. Well, to the other four vampires in the room, anyway. She, however, was really enjoying herself. The spell had been a time-travelling one, and she'd come back a hundred and three years in the past, and was meeting her family and friends in 2013 Mystic Falls. Hilarious, really. Well, in a sort-of-demented way anyway. Even though a small part of her was freaking out, the bigger part of her couldn't help but marvel at the beauty of it all.  
Well, sure she was in the past and knew of no way to get back and yeah, she was kind of freaking out the more she dwelled on the matter but COME ON! It's not every day one got to meet her mom and aunt and uncles (and her dad too, soon. She was not going to miss meeting her dad. She was after all her Daddy's girl. Besides, no way in hell was she willing to miss seeing his reaction when she dropped the bomb on him) before even being born.  
And, on the plus side, she'll get to be safe from Aunt Bonnie's wrath. Those aneurisms were awfully painful. Sure, her Dad blew a gasket every time she did that which, needless to say, was not something her aunt particularly enjoyed.(Annabelle was absolutely sure her aunt was a little frightened of him, not that she'll ever admit it. Her father really could get really intimidating when he wanted to be). But still she snuck in one or two, when she got really angry. And, boy, would she be pissed this time.  
Of all her aunts, she had to admit Elena was the best. She almost always (mostly always) gave in to her demands. Especially when she pouted. Other than that, she was really someone she could openly talk to. Sure, she could talk to her mother as well but there were some things that one couldn't talk to their mother about. No matter how close they were. Elena was the one who helped out with that stuff.  
Not that she wasn't close to her other aunts because she was. Bonnie, though strict, was a really great aunt. She scolded her a lot but Annabelle knew that in the long run it was for her own benefit. Rebekah was more her friend than aunt. She was the one who spoiled her the most, buying her designer bags and accessories and taking her to New York and Paris for regular shopping expeditions. Sometimes even her Mom joined them and they had a gala time. Caroline and Rebekah were practically joined at the hips most of the times, a fact that would cause their past self's' jaws to slacken if they knew of it. In fact, Annabelle knew her father cursed the day he had persuaded them to bury the hatchet and at least try to get along. She didn't know what exactly had happened in that shopping trip but since then, Rebekah and Caroline had become inseparable. Her father had been really pleased then; but not so much when he received the bills for each of their monthly shopping sprees. Knowing Caroline, compelling the shop owners was out of option. And thus, his depleting bank account.  
Annabelle snapped out of her thoughts and a deep feeling of longing clenched her chest. All of a sudden she was missing her family a lot even though technically speaking they were in the same room as her. She looked up to see the other's reactions.  
Elena was sitting on the couch beside Stefan, her eyebrows furrowed in worry as she stared at the pacing blonde vampire. Damon was sitting in his bar, nursing his fourth glass of bourbon (Annabelle had to roll her eyes at that. Seriously? How can someone drink so much?) His eyes too were on Caroline. Stefan, as usual, was brooding. And looking worried.  
Annabelle kept staring at Stefan and Elena sitting close together. They weren't very close but it was easy to understand that they were a couple. Annabelle noticed Elena's hand to reach out to touch Stefan's as he stared worriedly at his nearly-frantic best friend. Damon shot a glare at their entwined hands, completely unnoticed by the couple on the couch. Annabelle frowned looking at the couple, something that did not go unnoticed by them. Before they could say anything, however, Caroline said, having finally found her voice back, "but … you can't be my daughter".  
Annabelle looked confusedly at her and asked, "Why do you say that? I really am your daughter."  
"But… how is this possible? You're, well, um- it's not possible! I'm a vampire! Vampires can't reproduce!"  
"Well, I won't lie. I don't know exactly how it happened, neither do I want to. Know, I mean. It's better if you ask Aunt Bonnie about it. She'll be better at that."  
"But…"  
"I really am your daughter, Mom", Annabelle said with a smile on her face as she walked a little closer to her. "Believe me".  
"I-It's all so weird. It doesn't make any sense", Caroline said, sitting down on the armchair, her head in her hands. She looked up at her and said in a stunned whisper, "I have a daughter in the future".  
"Yes", she replied grinning broadly at her.  
"How many years have passed?"  
"A hundred and three. And some months, I guess".  
"Whoa. That's… whoa"  
"I know it's really a lot to take in but I really am telling the truth"  
Caroline looked closely at her and said, "How old are you? In human years?"  
Annabelle shrugged and replied, "Eighteen. Well, actually stopped aging a week before turning nineteen so technically I consider myself nineteen".  
Caroline's eyes rounded off in shock and horror causing Annabelle to frown at her in confusion and worry. Had she something wrong?  
"You're almost nineteen? Nineteen?"  
"Um", Annabelle said, glancing nervously at the others.  
"MY DAUGHTER IS OLDER THAN ME!"  
Damon rolled his eyes and returned back to his drink, Elena smiled and Stefan lightly chuckled.  
Seriously, Barbie", Damon said, scowling at her. "You get to meet your daughter from the future and all you're worried about is that she's a year older than you?"  
"A year and a half", Caroline grumbled. "I was seventeen when I turned, remember?"  
Damon rolled his eyes again, shaking his head. Annabelle said, trying to soothe her mother, "only in human years, Mom."  
"Does it matter?" she huffed throwing her hands up in the air dramatically.  
Stefan asked, interrupting whatever Annabelle was about to say, "So, you grew up, in spite of being a vampire. You aged."  
Annabelle smiled at him and replied, "Yup! But my aging stopped at eighteen."  
"Nineteen", Damon pointed out causing a groan out of Caroline which only made him smirk wider. If Damon Salvatore liked anything in the world, getting on Caroline Forbes' nerves definitely starred high on that list.  
"What, like Twilight?" Elena asked furrowing her eyebrows in confusion ignoring the still-smirking Damon and the still-groaning Caroline.  
Annabelle giggled, which sounded surprisingly Caroline-like, "no! Aunt Bonnie says that I stopped aging at nineteen because that age is somewhere between my parents'. Nature's way of balancing it out or something. It's just a theory." She shrugged and Elena nodded thoughtfully.  
"So, does this mean, um, that we'd all be able to have kids?" Elena asked shyly, sparing a glance at Stefan. Damon gagged silently, giving a little fake shudder as well. Annabelle said, "No. Mom's the only exception, as far as I know. Aunt Bonnie is the right one to speak to about this stuff, although…" Again she frowned looking at the couple. Stefan frowned at her while Elena fidgeted awkwardly on her spot.  
Annabelle, seeing Stefan's glare directed towards her, blushed and said, laughing nervously, "I'm sorry. It's just that it's so weird for me to see you guys together."  
Stefan frowned at her and asked, "What do you mean? Aren't we together in the future?"  
Annabelle shook her head apologetically. Damon seemed to be the only one who perked up hearing this piece of information. He asked, trying to look nonchalant, "oh?"  
Annabelle rolled her eyes at him and quipped, "Well, it's not you either."  
Damon scowled at her and asked with a snarl, "who's it then?"  
"I can't tell you", she said, slopping down on the couch and smirked at his outraged expression. Caroline stared at Annabelle, a weird gnawing feeling in her heart. That smirk, her smirk- it was very familiar to her. It was so…  
Hold that thought, Caroline snapped in her mind, what are you thinking? Jeez, Care, get a grip… seriously!  
She shook her head, trying to rid it of the thought. It wasn't like that of Klaus'. Why would her daughter smirk like him, the Big Bad Wolf? She was definitely going insane.  
"Why not?"  
"Because if I do, my uncle will die. And I can't let that happen."  
Damon smirked at her and said," It's that Mutt, isn't it? Why didn't I just kill him already?"  
"Damon", Elena warned.  
"What? Afraid for your future husband, huh?"  
"First of all", Annabelle said, glaring at her in a way that again reminded Caroline of the original Hybrid, "his name is Matt. Not Mutt. Second, it's not him. And third, who said I was worried about his safety!"  
"What do you mean?" Stefan asked.  
She smirked and said in an almost patronizing voice, "I really don't want to see you hurt, dear Uncle Damon."  
Damon scoffed at her and said, "Yeah, right. Keep dreaming. Besides, Mini Blondie-"  
"HEY!" the mother and the daughter both cried indignantly.  
"-it's just Damon. No uncle. Got that?"  
Annabelle rolled her eyes and chose not to reply. Satisfied, Damon took his drink and went to stand near Caroline's chair.  
"So", Annabelle asked, changing the topic, "When am I meeting Aunt Bonnie?"  
"Soon", Caroline said, smiling softly at her.  
"Great. I really need to figure out how to get back. Um, where am I supposed to stay until then?"  
"My place", Caroline said quickly and then added awkwardly when she felt everyone's eyes on her, "you're my, um, daughter, so…"  
Annabelle nodded and beamed at her. "Great! Now that we've got that settled, let's go meet Dad!"  
"D-Dad?" Caroline stuttered out.  
"Yeah! Of course! Let's go."  
She smiled at her and said, "Well, I don't think you should meet him right now. I know you want to see him but I don't think that'll be the right way to go about this. Besides, Tyler's really busy right now and-"  
Annabelle stared owlishly at her and then asked, "Tyler? What's Lockwood got to do with it?"  
Caroline stared at her with her lips parted in confusion and shock, but no sound came out. Not just because of the fact that her daughter was talking about her boyfriend like he wasn't her father. But also because of the way she literally snarled out Tyler's name. She turned to look confusedly at her three friends who seemed to be just as shocked as her.  
"Isn't he your Dad?"  
Annabelle scrunched up her nose in disgust and sneered out, "Of course not!"  
'Then who?" Elena asked.  
"What's your full name?" Stefan asked.  
"Annabelle Mikaelson."  
Something cold gripped Caroline's dead-yet-still-weirdly-functional heart as if someone had dumped a bucket full of ice water over her head and a few ice cubes had slipped inside her shirt. She didn't move hoping she was hallucinating or something. This couldn't be happening. Mikaelson? Her daughter was a Mikaelson?  
Klaus.  
"Um, Kol?" Elena asked hopefully, knowing what must be going through her friend's mind with the revelation. Please don't let it be Klaus. Anyone but Klaus.  
"Ew, no. He's into witches anyway."  
"Well, then…?" Stefan asked hoping too that it wasn't Klaus.  
But apparently the universe or whatever was up there messing with their lives hated them too much to grant their wishes.  
"His name is Niklaus Mikaelson."  
Shock makes people do weird things, sometimes even impossible. Things that they generally wouldn't or couldn't do. Apparently this rule extended to everyone, including vampires. Because vampires can't faint, they just can't. They're incapable of that. Which left only one reason in Caroline's mind to explain what happened next.  
Shock. Pure, outrageous, did-she-just-say-what I-think-she-just-said? Shock. This, by the way, just goes to show the magnitude of said shock.  
HOLY MOTHER OF HELL.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


	3. Chapter 3: Crazy Town

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Doesn’t belong to me. Nope. Except this idea and the lovely Annabelle Mikaelson.

Caroline groaned feeling the headache she was now sporting thanks to all the new drama that fate had decided to dump on her. Well, could anyone blame her? Up until about an hour ago her day had been going relatively normal; well, as normal as one can expect when they are a year old vampire in the supernatural little town of Mystic Falls. She had woken up at her usual time, had breakfast, dolled herself up to her usual perfect self and headed towards the Salvatore boarding house to meet up with Elena (Elena had been staying there ever since completing her transition and after Jeremy turned out to be Hunter. Besides, even if she could have stayed in her place Caroline knew she wouldn’t have. So she had chosen to stay at the Salvatore’s- which wasn’t that hard an arrangement to make seeing as how she spent most of her time there anyway to be with Stefan. After she transitioned the two of them had been practically inseparable. Much to Caroline’s delight and Damon’s dismay. Even though Caroline was an ardent Team Stefan, she felt kind of bad for Damon. She could imagine how hard it must be for someone to see the love of their life with someone else. Sure, Caroline wasn’t Damon Salvatore’s biggest fan, but no one deserved to go through that. One reason why she had been currently ignoring his remarks and snarky attitude).   
She had spent the entire day chatting up with her friends and having fun, if one could count out Damon’s incessant remarks every now and then. Everything was going pretty well- until a complete stranger dropped in on them claiming to be her daughter from the future. Saying that she had been shocked would be the understatement of the century. She had been horrified, scared, disbelieving, confused and feeling just about every emotion there was on the face of earth. Her lightened senses didn’t exactly help matters much.   
She was happy too, somewhat. After she had turned into a vampire, she had completely given up on ever getting to be a mother. She had come to terms with the fact. Sure, she couldn’t really understand what the loss was yet; she was just eighteen after all. No one cared about motherhood at her age, much less her. She had never planned for motherhood when she was human, hadn’t even given it much thought. She had known that one she’d grow up and would have a family- that was about as much thought she given to future planning. She hadn’t cared much because she knew that one day she’d get to experience it. Why bother thinking about it? She had her whole life ahead of her for that. But when she became a vampire- that was when she had realized what she had lost. And it had hurt at first; an overwhelming feeling of loss had gripped her. She had mourned the loss of her phantom baby, the possibility of a future. It was a weird feeling certainly, to mourn the loss of something that she had never even had. Never even wanted. But then, at that moment, she could have given anything to go back to the time before Katherine and the Salvatore’s just to have that possibility again.  
But Caroline Forbes was nothing if not rational.   
She had controlled herself and gotten over it. It was hard but she had gotten over it. Came to an understanding. Been resigned to her fate. Pushed the depressive thoughts to the very back of her mind. There was no point thinking about it- what’s done is done, what is lost is lost. Now all she could do was move on with her new life and be happy. Enjoy it, embrace it. And she did. After all, she felt, she was never born to be a human. In time she might even forget about it.  
At least that’s what she had thought. Except now, a century old immortal had dropped in on them, claiming to be her daughter.   
From the future.   
Caroline had received many many shocks in her life (like her father leaving her mom for another man for instance, and yoo-hoo! Vampires? Come on). And all of them had been pretty much life-changing. Needless to say, this little shock (like 5’3’’ little) blew the rest right out of the water.   
Caroline sighed massaging the bridge of her nose. She wasn’t even considering the other reason for her headache, the more bigger reason. The thing was she wasn’t willing to consider that little fact as her future. Her future couldn’t be with Klaus of all people. Klaus! The Big Bad Hybrid. The irritating specimen of a man. The infuriating megalomaniac that had been terrorizing their lives for the last one year. The same infuriating Original that apparently fancied her. She couldn’t in a million years fall for that… that… that man! It wasn’t possible, it was a conspiracy. Or something. Anything but the truth. She could imagine herself with anyone in the future.   
Tyler, her boyfriend who nowadays cared more about her pack than her.  
Stefan, on whom she had once had a crush but now cared only as a best friend or brother.   
Any human or vampire or werewolf, someone whom she would meet in the future and might fall for.   
Hell, she would even consider Damon! But not Klaus. Definitely not him. Not. At. All.   
Maybe this is some kind of a bad joke or a conspiracy even , she thought. Maybe he himself sent this girl to me as my supposed daughter, to play with my mind or something. Yeah… no. She is real, I can feel it. She IS my daughter, of that I am certain… but is she Klaus’s?   
Caroline looked at Annabelle, who was sitting across the room talking to Stefan and Elena. Damon was sitting somewhere, drinking himself into oblivion or planning something or whatever it was he did on his lonesome. She was smirking at something Elena had asked, with a know-it-all twinkle in her eyes. Something that reminded her a lot of one annoying hybrid. Caroline noticed other things then, things that up until now she had been ignoring for the very reason that it reminded her of Klaus. And now that she was finally looking she saw a lot more things than she expected.  
Her smirk, the exact replica of her supposed father.   
The way she sat, with her feet on the table, arrogance radiating off of her- just like Klaus.  
The way she walked, with the confidence of her father and the grace of her mother.  
Her eyes had a certain coldness to it, even if she had a radiant smile on her face, as if they were calculating the other’s every move.  
Her behavior, the swagger, the very way she talked- everything about her screamed only one name…  
Caroline groaned, her slowly diminishing headache attacking her again with renewed vigor. She was married to the Big Bad Hybrid in the future and had a nineteen-year old daughter.   
Fate really seemed to find extreme pleasure in her torment. 

 

Annabelle looked up from her quite interesting conversation with Stefan when she felt Caroline walking up to her. She smiled at her mother and said, ”hey, Mom. You need something?”  
Caroline seemed taken aback for a bit and then composing herself replied, “um, yeah. Well, I’ll be going home now. So, if you’re done…”  
“Oh”, Annabelle said, “well, let’s go then. Bye, Elena. Stefan. “Elena smiled at her, as did Stefan. Annabelle shouted sure he could hear her nonetheless, her voice full of sarcastic sugar-sweetness, “Bye, Uncle Damon!”   
His reply came in the form of loud breaking of a bottle. A moment later he shouted, his voice equally dripping with sarcastic sugar-sweetness, “Bye, Mini-Blondie!”  
Annabelle rolled her eyes and turned to Caroline, “yup, now we can go.”  
Caroline grinned to herself, shaking her head and headed towards the door, her daughter following behind.  
About half an hour later the mother-daughter duo entered the Forbes’ residence, all the while talking about the time period in which Annabelle had fallen into. If she was going to live in this time for the foreseeable future, she needed to know what was going on at least. God forbid someone asked her who the President was or something… what would she say then? She was basically a stranger to all things witchy (not counting her momentary obsession with spells that ultimately led her here) but she more or less had a slight idea that revealing about the future things would not be the smartest move on her part. She had already played with balance of nature by performing the spell and transporting herself to the past. She couldn’t further disrupt the way the future was supposed to play out anymore than it already had. She couldn’t take the chance.   
So Annabelle refused to divulge anything more about the future to her mother or her gang. What if it somehow changed the course or something? She remembered what Aunt Bonnie had said to her when she had given her her first magic lesson. Annabelle had been super excited to start with her classes and would bring her down from her high (Annabelle loved to get her way around, and being the beloved daughter of the infamous Klaus Mikaelson was only the icing on the cake) but she had forgotten that if anyone could burst her bubble effectively, it definitely was the green-eyed Bennett.

 

“Magic and witchcraft may be the most powerful weapon one can hope for and a real treat”, she had said to her, looking at her with the wisdom of a thousand witches in her eyes. “But it’s not all fun and games. There should always be a balance. Once disrupted it would only bring turmoil to everyone involved. Magic is no joke, Annie. And it always comes with a price…”

 

If spooking her was the main intention behind her words the Bonnie Bennett definitely succeeded. Annabelle Mikaelson was officially spooked.  
She shook her head trying to rid it of the bad feeling that was slowly dawning on her. She didn’t want to pay for the consequences. She certainly didn’t want anything to do with the turmoil. She would do everything she could do to not disrupt any balance and make sure that the fate ran its right course. In the mean time she had to figure out how to get back to her own time. Yeah, no pressure or anything.   
“…listening to me, Annabelle? Annabelle!”  
Annabelle jerked out of her reverie and turned to face her mother, who was looking at her with a cautious and worried expression on her face.  
“Yeah?” she asked, schooling her features.  
Caroline continued to eye her cautiously and then asked, “You okay?”  
“Um, yeah. Yeah. I am fine. Just processing”, she replies, smiling at her.  
“Oh. Of course. This is weird, isn’t it?”  
Annabelle sighed and muttered, “Can’t think of a better word to describe this…”  
Caroline nodded and then looked around her living room. “So, this is my house. Which you probably already have been in before… or after. Anyway, you can stay in my room. Do you need anything at the moment?”  
“Not really”, Annabelle smiled looking at her.   
Caroline nodded and looked around nervously, mentally deciding on what to say next. “So, uh, should I get anything for you? Water? Tea? Or are you a coffee person?”  
“No, Mom. It’s ok. Thanks.”  
“Okay”, she replied and the two of them stood there awkwardly wondering what to do next. Annabelle decided to break the awkward silence herself seeing as how it was because of her they were in this… mess? Well, whatever it was it was because of her.  
“Well, I do-“  
“So we should-“  
The two young women looked at each other and then laughed. Annabelle looked at Caroline with a grin on her face and said, “I’m sorry, you first.”  
Caroline shook her head, more relaxed than before and replied, “No, its ok. You first. I insist.”  
“Well”, Annabelle replied, tugging a loose strand of hair behind her ear, “I just wanted to know where the bathroom was, so…”  
Caroline giggled lightly and shook her head. “Oh, I’m sorry. You need to freshen up. Well, come along then. Bathroom’s upstairs.”  
A minute later Caroline was ushering her into her room facing backwards as she explained about everything. “-and the bathroom’s through that door on the right. Mom and I don’t have a joined one so that one is mine completely. You can share that with me. The toiletries are already there so you don’t have to worry about those. You can of course share my clothes so that’s not gonna be a problem. We’ll buy you your choice of clothes, tomorrow maybe? Good, then. Well, what else? Uh… “  
“Mom, hey, hey, Mom”, Annabelle said, putting her hands on her shoulder to steady her, “It’s alright. I understand it all. There’s gonna be no problem at all, you’ll see.”  
Caroline nodded, and looked around again. When she was sure she had covered all bases she turned and smiled at Annabelle. “So, um, you should freshen up now. I’ll go and call Bonnie up, ‘kay?”  
Annabelle nodded and smiled at her as she left the room. As soon as she was out of earshot, she sat on the bed clutching the bed sheet and looked around herself. She could almost feel the panic coming. Now that the first shock and thrill was slowly ebbing down, she was finally starting to feel the reality of what had happened. The magnitude of what she had done.  
Annabelle groaned loudly and muttered, as she rocked herself on the spot, “calm down, calm down. Everything is alright. Everything will be… oh! Who am I kidding? I’m in the past! I’m not even born yet. Hell, my parents haven’t even fallen in love yet. And here I am, in the freaking past. Will I ever be able to get back? Will everything change? Oh, damn it! It’s all my fault. I’m never dabbing into magic again. Ever. Never ever ever. Oh god, oh god, oh god! What do I do? I want Mom and Dad. Well, my Mom and Dad. Oh hush, Annie. Stop panicking. Look at the bright side for a minute. You time-travelled! How many people get to say they did? No one. And you’re not exactly away in some psycho-land; you’re in a familiar place, with familiar people. You have your mom and dad with you. Well, sort of. Now you just need to calm down and figure it out as you go. Yeah. Calm. Me. Okay.”  
She stood up, taking in long breathes in order to calm her frazzled mind all the while chanting ‘calm… calm…’ as she breathed. She could hear the sound of her mother’s voice downstairs talking to Aunt Bonnie and decided that no matter how royally screwed up this really was, she wasn’t lost.  
Or worse dead.   
She’ll figure it out, she decided. She would.  
But first, she needed a shower.

 

As Annabelle was recovering from her mini-panic-attack up in her room, Caroline took the time to have a freak out of her own as she paced beside the kitchen counter. Bloody hell, she had a daughter! A daughter from the future! Who was at that very moment upstairs in her bedroom, getting ready to have a shower.  
Bloody hell.  
Quickly calming her nerves down and not to go into another round of nervous pacing, Caroline fished her phone out of her purse that had been unceremoniously dumped on the sofa when she… they came in.  
She tried not to focus on the sound of her daughter breathing (stop being CREEPY! She mentally screamed at herself when she realized that she had in fact just stood there for about half a minute doing exactly that) and dialed Bonnie’s number.  
“Hey, Care”, Bonnie replied, picking up on the third ring. “What’s up?”  
“Um, nothing much”, Caroline said, giggling nervously. The voice on the other end stayed quiet for what appeared to Caroline like an agonizingly long minute and then said, “Okay, Care. What’s wrong? You sound weird.”  
Caroline listened to the shower start upstairs and sighed, deciding to just get on with the reason for her call. “Something has come up. Can you meet up with us in the Mystic Grill in, say, an hour?”  
“Sure, Care. Us as in the whole group?”  
“No, just me and… well, it has to do with that something. I’ll explain when we meet.”  
There was another long minute while Caroline held her breath waiting for her friend to reply. “Yeah… of course, Care. I’ll be there. Is it something to do with a Klaus problem?”  
Caroline closed her eyes and blushed slightly. Oh, you have no idea, Bon, she thought as she pinched the bridge of her nose. She felt a shiver run down her spine on hearing his name and scolded herself for that. It had been happening to her a lot, ever since he saved her from Alaric all those days back and then again from the Council members. It was funny. The very man who caused all the problems in their life, directly or indirectly, was the one who was always there to save her.  
Oh, Caroline. Stop fantasizing. You love Tyler. You are with Tyler. It’s inappropriate.  
Or was it?  
Wasn’t it Tyler who was the inappropriate one here instead of Klaus? Shouldn’t thinking about Klaus be the right thing to do, seeing as how they have a daughter in the future?  
The very same daughter whom she could hear upstairs, dancing around in the shower listening to a Rihanna song that she was sure hadn’t even been released yet?  
Funny how this was the only time in the entire day since Annabelle had come that she had even thought about her current boyfriend…  
“-Care? Caroline!”  
“Huh?” she asked, coming out of her momentary lapse in focus.   
“Are you there, Care? You didn’t answer my question”, Bonnie asked, worriedly.  
Caroline nodded as if she was right there in front of her and said, “Yeah. See you then.”  
Caroline tossed the phone inside her purse and slumped on the couch, covering her eyes with her hands and groaning. Telling Bonnie was a good idea, sure. She knew that. If anyone could handle this, it was the green-eyed Bennett witch. But her conversation with her had brought up one very big problem in her mind.  
What and how was she gonna tell Klaus?

 

Annabelle got out of the bathroom dressed in her mother’s baby-blue halter top, a jean jacket and jeans, her wet blonde hair flowing down her back as they dried naturally. She thanked the stars above that she has the same structure as her mother. At least she didn’t have to worry about dress fittings. One problem off the checklist. She maybe in a huge mess at the moment, but she was gonna be in that mess in style.   
She was Caroline Forbes’ daughter after all.  
She heard a knock on the door and looked up to see Caroline poke her head in through the crack and smile at her. She entered the room completely, blinking a little seeing Annabelle in her clothes.   
“Wow, you look like…” she started, unable to find the word.  
“You?” Annabelle asked, smirking slightly. Caroline nodded. “Yeah, I know. Everyone says so. From the back we look like twins!”  
Caroline laughed lightly and Annabelle grinned at her happily. After having controlled her amusement, she said, “Well, we should go now. Bonnie’ll be meeting us at the Grill.”  
“Ooh, let’s go!” she stood up, clapping her hands excitedly.  
“Great. I’ll just grab the keys... Annabelle?”  
“Yeah?” she asked turning to look at her from down the stairs. Caroline fidgeted on her spot slightly and then said, looking at her, “remember that I was gonna tell you something?” when she nodded in reply she continued, “I was just thinking we should decide what you want everyone to know you as. Obviously we can’t tell everyone who you truly are as we look very alike, so how about for the entire town you are my distant cousin or something? We don’t know how long you are gonna stay so… what do you think?”  
Annabelle seemed to think about it for a second and then smiling at her, she replied,” I agree. That’s a good idea. So, cousin then?”  
“Yes. Cousins. So we should just skip the Mom thing for a while, ‘Kay? At least in public.”  
“Yeah, sure. As you say… Care”, she said as if testing the name out.  
“Great”, Caroline beamed.  
“Well, since we are doing the casual thing”, Annabelle said, raising her eyebrows at her mother/’cousin’ slightly, “you’ve got to stop with the Annabelle thing. Everyone calls me Annie.”  
“Yeah, Annabelle’s quite a mouthful. Who gave you that name anyway?”  
Annabelle smirked causing Caroline to go ‘ahh…’ in realization. “Figures”, she quipped as they both settled in the car.  
“It goes well with Mikaelson”, Annabelle shrugged.  
“Why couldn’t I pick the name? Control freak”, Caroline muttered, pouting slightly.  
“You chose the boy’s name.”  
“The boy?”  
“Yeah, you guys didn’t want to know the sex of the baby.”  
“Hmm..”  
Annabelle grinned at her mother and said, “You got lucky Dad chose the name. It’s a lot better than Harolda as Uncle Kol was trying to name me.”  
The two women broke into laughter as they started towards the Mystic Grill.


	4. Chapter 4: First Meets

Bonnie entered the Grill twenty minutes after her phone call with Caroline. She frowned slightly thinking of how her friend had sounded and needless to say, she was worried. It wasn’t like Caroline to be so evasive about her problems and had always been one to spill out her worries on the phone itself rather than meet up and talk about it. Hence, it was really surprising (and rather troubling) when she couldn’t tell her about this ‘something’ that she was talking about on the phone and wanted to see her face-to-face to talk about it. This only meant that whatever Caroline had to say was obviously very important. And the way things went around this town- ‘important’ was right up there with ‘horrifying’.  
Maybe it has to do with Klaus. Again. Bonnie thought as she took a seat in one the booths at the more secluded corner of the Grill, assuming that whatever they needed to talk about would probably require a great deal of privacy. She sighed in exhaustion- when hadn’t some problem or the other they had to deal with not been about the thousand year old hybrid?  
Exactly.  
In fact, she couldn’t even remember a time when the right dress to wear to a party had been the biggest of her worries.  
However, it surprised her a little that Caroline was the one who was informing her about this new Klaus problem, not Elena. After all, all the Klaus problems generally revolved around Elena and her doppelganger blood. Caroline was quite frankly the last person who got to know about the problems, Bonnie thought feeling slightly guilty about it. It wasn’t that they didn’t need her help or thought little of her or anything. It was their way of keeping her in the sidelines of the war, of protecting her, of making sure she didn’t fall smack-dab in the middle of all the horror, that she remained as untainted as she could be. She knew it was a really shitty way of protecting her friend- Caroline Forbes was many things but a damsel in distress she was not.  
But Bonnie couldn’t help it. In this tug of war of power and life, where death sentences were handed out as if they were nothing more than a lifeless paper, where blood and magic was the only thing that reigned- if Bonnie could save at least one of her loved ones, she would do it. Even if that meant keeping Caroline in the dark about most of their problems, especially regarding Klaus. All of them had an unsaid agreement regarding this; even though their reasons may be different. Whatever they may be, they knew and agreed that if they could save at least one of themselves from the crossfire; it would be the cheerful blonde.  
Which was why it was rather disconcerting for Bonnie to grasp that this time the bearer of bad news was Caroline Forbes herself.  
“Bonnie?”  
Startled out of her musing Bonnie looked up to find the human busboy, who stared down at her with concerned eyes that seemed to have seen too much too soon (which he had) and a friendly smile.  
“Matt”, Bonnie said, smiling back at her best friend. “Sorry, I was a little distracted.”  
Matt nodded in understanding though it was clear from his searching eyes that he wanted to say more. Instead, he just asked softly, “Are you okay?”  
Bonnie smiled again, this time a lot more relaxed and replied, “Yes, Matt. I am. Just a little stressed. You know…”  
He nodded again knowingly and said, “Well, as much as I want to stick around and chat I can’t. It’s packed today. So I’ll just take your order. The same, right?”  
Bonnie nodded tugging a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “Well, Caroline’ll be here soon so…”  
Matt smiled and replied, “Of course. I’ll get both your orders… You sure you’ll be okay?”  
After receiving another reassuring nod and a smile, he continued, dropping his voice slightly, “Don’t stress yourself, Bon. There’s only so much one person can take, witch or not. We’re all here to help in any way we can, okay?”  
Bonnie nodded again, smiling gratefully at her friend. Matt Donovan. The last of their friends group who thankfully has been spared from the fates that the others had received. Out of all them- Bonnie, Elena, Caroline, Matt and Tyler- Matt was probably the only one who was the least affected by all the supernatural drama that was currently going on in all their lives. However, he was no stranger to the turmoil caused by the happenings in this town. He may be only of their friends who was still human, but he suffered too. Vicki, she thought sadly, as she looked into caring and worried blue eyes of her friend.  
Yes, he had been touched by all this nonsense too. Yes, he had suffered. But he would not anymore. She would make sure of that.  
“Thanks, Matt”, Bonnie said, smiling softly. “But I’m fine. It’s just Caroline wanted to talk about something and I’m worried for her. She sounded… disturbed.”  
Matt frowned and dropped his voice, “Caroline? What’s wrong with her?”  
She sighed again and shrugged, biting her lips unconsciously. “I don’t know. I’m sure it’s nothing terrible. Maybe she and Tyler are fighting again and she just needs to vent…”  
“Yeah”, Matt agreed thoughtfully, “maybe.”  
Matt looked behind him hearing someone call his name and bristled slightly. He turned to smile apologetically at her and said, “Sorry, Bon. I gotta get back to work. Let me know how it goes.”  
Bonnie nodded in reply and watched him as he went back to work, talking to the bartender for a moment before walking over to another table. She continued watching him until a throat clearing beside her startled her out of her thoughts. On seeing who it was she almost groaned. She hadn’t had much one-on-one interactions with all the Mikaelsons (except for Klaus, and Rebekah and a very disturbing encounter with Esther) but she definitely knew who all of them were. And it didn’t take her more than a second to recognize the youngest Mikaelson, who was currently sitting in front of her smirking mischievously.  
“Well, hello darling”, Kol drawled, making himself more comfortable on his seat as he stretched his arm and put it on the back of the seat beside him.  
“What do you want?” she asked, crossing her arms before her chest.  
Kol raised his eyebrows in amusement and smirked wider than before (if that was even possible) and replied, “Right down to business. I really like that in a woman. Keeps the spice going in a relationship.”  
Bonnie rolled her eyes and muttered boredly, “Are you here just to annoy me or is there a purpose for this chat?”  
“The former”, Kol quipped.  
Bonnie opened her mouth to reply but paused while the waitress put the plates of food in front of them and smiled flirtatiously at Kol. Kol, for his part, winked back at her and turned back to see Bonnie roll her eyes and pull the plate in front of herself. Kol waited for the waitress to leave before he pulled the other plate before him, rubbing his hands excitedly in front of himself.  
“You ordered my favorite food! Why, love. It almost feels like you were waiting for me. How thoughtful of you.”  
He was going to pick up the fries from the plate to put in his mouth he felt a light slap on his hand, surprising him enough to let go of the fry. He looked up to glare at the witch who raised one eyebrow at him challengingly, one corner of her lips tugging up to a smirk. “Don’t touch what’s not yours. That’s Caroline’s.”  
Kol stared at her for a moment and broke into a grin. “You really are a feisty little thing, aren’t you? But then again you are a Bennett witch, so I shouldn’t be that surprised.”  
Bonnie frowned at the Original and opened her mouth to reply. But someone else beat her to it.  
“Bon. Is this guy bothering you?”  
The two of them looked up to see Matt glaring down at Kol. Kol scoffed at him as if his glare had been as intimidating to him as that of a puppy throwing a tantrum. He turned to face Bonnie and asked, laughing lightly, “Is this guy-what is it that you folks say nowadays- kidding me?”  
Bonnie sighed tiredly and smiled at her friend, “Don’t worry about it, Matt. I can take care of myself. Kol and I were just talking.”  
Kol being Kol couldn’t help but comment. He looked at Matt with a triumphant grin on his face. “Listen to the lady, Boy-Toy. Or she’d put witchy juju on you.”  
Bonnie rolled her eyes again. What would he take to just shut up?  
“Matt, I’m fine. Kol, go away.”  
The latter just shrugged and quickly stole a chip from her plate before she could slap his hand again. Bonnie glared indignantly at him while he popped the fry into his open mouth, adding an exaggerated moan for good measure. Matt frowned at him again and turned away hesitantly. He knew Bonnie was more than capable of taking care of herself but he couldn’t help but worry. This was Kol, the most unpredictable of all the Originals. Who knew what was up his sleeve?  
Bonnie glared at her uninvited guest and almost growled at him. She knew she could fry his head if she wanted to but the thought made her slightly uneasy. He was being amiable enough for now, but who’s to say he’d stay that way? “Honestly, Kol. Why are you here?”  
He put his hand to his heart dramatically, his expression hurt, “How you offend me, darling. Aren’t I being the perfect dinner companion?”  
“Wow! Let’s see-inviting yourself over here, stealing my food, insulting my friend-yeah, you are being the perfect gentleman. Really, you should write a book!”  
“Sarcasm? Really? After I come all the way over here to keep a beautiful woman company while she waits for her friend, all she gives me is sarcasm. Frankly, I’m hurt.”  
Bonnie scowled at him and said, “Well, I was fine on my own. Thank you for your company. Now you may go.”  
Kol leaned forward and lightly touched her cheek causing her to flinch. He dropped his voice to a low husky timber and almost whispered, “I’ll be honest with you, love. The more you resist, the more I’ll come after you. After all, I really do like challenges. And you, Bonnie Bennett, have really piqued my interest. Its up to you, though, how we go about this… development. But rest assured, I won’t stop until I hear you do that enticing little growl right in my ear and scream my name into the night. I get what I want, my darling. I always do.”  
Bonnie gulped lightly as his lustful gaze burned into her eyes, and blinked in surprise when she realized he wasn’t in front of her anymore. Her eyes widened in horror as she realized what he had just said, and that all she did was just sit there, frozen, unable to give a coherent reply. Her eyebrows scrunched up in anger and she gritted her teeth, reprimanding herself for not slapping him when she had the chance.  
God, I really should have just fried his brains!  
Her anger dissipated slightly when she saw Caroline walking over to her, a nervous smile on her face.

 

Annabelle walked into the Mystic Grill, two steps behind Caroline. She looked around the familiar place and realized that a lot had changed over the years. She knew she shouldn’t have been surprised- a lot of years had passed between this time and hers after all. But she still couldn’t stop herself from squeaking in surprise as she saw all the wooden tables and chairs, unlike the sleek metallic tabletops and glassed roof that she was used to.  
“Annie?”  
Annabelle turned her eyes from the billiards table to see her mother looking at her with a confused but amused expression on her face.  
“Huh?” She asked distractedly.  
“You okay? You’re… squeaking. Constantly. And loudly.”  
“I… am?” She asked in surprise, blushing in embarrassment. She caught the eye of an old woman who passed them by, giving her a weird look. Her blush deepened and she turned to face her mother, laughing nervously. “Um, sorry. It’s just…”  
She didn’t finish her sentence, just waved her hand around and over head as if that explained everything. Caroline raised an eyebrow in amusement and chuckled, shaking her head. She turned around to her right and her face brightened to see her friend.  
“Matt”, she exclaimed, walking over to hug him tightly. Matt chuckled at his bubbly friend and hugged her back equally tightly.  
“Hey, Care-Bear. You seem very happy today.”  
Caroline pouted at him and replied, “It’s a beautiful day. I have amazing friends. What’s there not to be happy about?”  
Matt chuckled and then his eyes fell on the blonde standing behind her. He was surprised to see her beaming at him, which she quickly controlled to a poker-face when his eyes fell on her.  
“Who’s your friend?”He asked Caroline, his eyes on this stranger who seemed to now find the floor very interesting. His eyes narrowed when he felt Caroline tense in his arms and turned to see her give a wide-eyed, deer-caught-in-the-headlight look to the girl before schooling her features back to normal.  
Okay, there is definitely something wrong here…  
Caroline stepped out of his embrace and tugged her hair behind her ears before meeting his eyes. “Matt”, she started softly, “this is… well… I-“  
“I’m family”, the girl said, putting her hand on Caroline’s shoulder. She seemed to relax at her touch and smiled gratefully back at the girl. The girl turned to lock her eyes with him, before stretching her arm out for a handshake, a smile on her face. “I’m Annabelle.”  
Matt smiled tightly at Annabelle, shaking her hand in greeting. “Hi.”  
He turned back to see Caroline fidgeting on her spot. “Care… what’s wrong? You can talk to me about it, you know that.”  
Caroline sighed and nodded. “I know. I just- I really should talk to Bonnie first. And then I have to talk to-um, I really can’t talk about this right now. I just- I need to talk to Bon. It’s a… magic thing.”  
Matt nodded in understanding and replied, “Sure, Care. Bon’s over there-wait, Kol?”  
Annabelle’s eyes snapped to where Matt was looking at and sure enough, there they were-her Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Kol. Her eyes widened in surprise seeing them interact-weren’t they enemies in this time? She remembered her aunt telling her that she and Kol had gotten together after her parents were officially a couple. But her parents weren’t even friends right now-then how was this possible? Unless… Annabelle smirked in realization as she remembered how her uncle used to scoff whenever her aunt told her about when they got together and the dark blush that dawned her cheeks as she glared back at him.  
Well, well, well. This will be interesting to watch firsthand...  
She was mentally imagining how she would tease her aunt about this when she returned back home when she felt a sharp jab to her shoulder. She looked indignantly at her mother who shrugged innocently before asking, “So when you said Kol was into witches did you mean Bonnie?”  
Annabelle squared her shoulders and donned the best poker-face she could manage before replying, “I know nothing.”  
Caroline glared at her and then turned back to look at the current-enemies-future-couple. Annabelle followed her gaze only the realizing that Matt had walked over to them. She could hear what they were saying thanks to her hybrid ears and smirked when she heard Kol talk about Bonnie putting witchy juju on Matt.  
God, how she missed her uncle! Back in her time Kol had gone over to England for some reason and thus she hadn’t met him in almost 1 month! No wonder Aunt Bonnie is so surly now, she mused. Looking at this Bonnie she could hardly recognize her. She still looked the same, thanks to some anti-ageing spell but her Aunt Bonnie looked like a 28 year old who, though young, had eyes that spoke volumes of all that she had seen and learnt in her life; which, frankly, was a lot. This Bonnie, the teenage Bonnie, seemed much more relaxed.  
Well, except now as she glowered at her uncle.  
She chuckled, wondering what he had done to receive such hostility. Which knowing Kol was some sort of extreme flirting.  
She sighed ruefully. Seeing her uncle reminded her of her father. She missed him, so much. It was only this morning that she had left her home hugging him goodbye to meet her friends, him warning her to return home in an hour. (Which she had by the way. But then her Mom had left to go somewhere with Aunt Bekah, and no one was home so she had slipped into her Aunt Bon’s room to try some new tricks and…well, yeah.)  
It almost seemed like a lifetime ago…  
She watched as Kol walked away from Bonnie’s table, a self-satisfied grin on his face and Annabelle had this sudden urge to follow him to the Mikaelson Manor. She had to see her Dad, she had to.  
“Oh, good. Kol’s gone”, Caroline sighed in relief. “Let’s go.”  
“Mom”, Annabelle said, grabbing her hand to stop her in her place. “You go talk to her. I want to look around the Grill. Everything’s so different from before-I just want to get a little used to this.”  
Caroline stared at her and Annabelle bit her lips, praying that she hadn’t caught her lie. When it came to lying she was definitely her mother’s daughter.  
She sucked at it.  
Her mother narrowed her eyes at her causing her breath to hitch. Shit! Busted! But to her relief she let it slide. “Hurry back.”  
Annabelle let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding as her mother walked over to Bonnie’s table. She continued watching them as they hugged and sat together, her aunt’s eyebrows knitting in worry as she asked what was wrong. Sure that they were distracted enough with their conversation and would not pay her any attention, she decided that this was the perfect opportunity for her to slip away unnoticed. She knew her mother was taking her time before facing her father, probably picturing thousand different scenarios in her mind about how the talk would go. She knew her mom was nervous. It was a big step, something that would inadvertently change her life as she knew it. And she scared. Annabelle didn’t blame her mother for taking her sweet time.  
Except, she was not gonna wait an entire day to meet her Dad.  
Now or never.  
She turned around to walk out of the Grill before Caroline beckoned her over (which judging by the stunned expression on her aunt’s face could be, well, now) only to run smack into a hard wall.  
“Ow”, she groaned, rubbing her nose.  
Wait, where did the wall come from? And how does the wall have arms? And, wait… is that abs?  
Her eyes widened and she looked up to meet warm, melting chocolate brown eyes. Wait, what? The boy smiled down at her and said his voice sweet yet manly, “you okay?”  
“Ugh…” she managed to say, feeling blood rush to her cheeks. She was half aware that he had said something to her and remembering that she had to say something back (Talking etiquette, Annie. Hello? Say something!) She muttered, “Hi…”  
The boy chuckled lightly and replied, his fingers twitching where it rested on her waist. ”Hi. You OK now?”  
Annabelle nodded and he let her go, causing her to stumble a little. The boy raised his eyebrow at her in amusement and asked, “You sure about that?”  
Annabelle said, having finally gotten back her ability to form intelligent words, “Yeah. Thanks… for not running me over.”  
“No problem.” He smirked at her and leaned towards her, her breath hitching in her throat as his woodsy smell invaded her nose. “You can let go of me now.”  
Annabelle froze in horror as she realized where her traitorous left hand was still caressing his abs. Caressing! She snatched her hand away, mortified.  
“Sorry.”  
The boy frowned at her slightly, his laughter seizing as he eyed her cautiously. “No problem.”  
He seemed to have seen something behind her and walked away without a second glance. Annabelle scowled at the spot where he had been standing.  
Wow. Rude much?  
She turned to see what had made him walk away without at least a goodbye or something. Yeah, okay so I felt him a LITTLE bit, she thought grudgingly. But at least a goodbye would have been nice.  
She saw him near the bar and was surprised to see Matt bro-hug him happily exclaiming, “Jer! Good to see you out and about, man.”  
Jer. Hmm. Could add a ‘k’ at the end though.  
Annabelle shook her head at herself, remembering that she was supposed to follow Kol to the old Mikaelson Manor where her family used to live in during this time, not eye-stalk cute strangers with attitude problems. Damn it, Annie! Priorities.  
She didn’t know the direction to the old place, since they in her time lived in another mansion a little outside of Mystic Falls whenever they visited the town. However, she was sure she could find her way there if she tried. How hard could it be?  
She looked at where Caroline was, thanking her lucky stars they were still deep in conversation. She turned to look where Matt was (in case he saw her leaving and ratted her out to her mother. She knew she was worrying unnecessarily. Matt would never rat on someone. He was not that kind of person, which was what she loved about him so much. She knew she could trust him, even though he didn’t seem to like her much in this time. She probably shouldn’t have beamed at him like that-he wasn’t her Matt. She was just a stranger to him. But it couldn’t hurt to check if he was looking anyway, to be safe) and froze on her spot.  
She had been noticed alright. Except not by the person she had been expecting.  
Jer-without-a-K didn’t move his eyes when she caught him staring; instead his eyes narrowed a split second as he stared her down. She felt her stomach twist anxiously and heaved a sigh of relief when he turned away, answering to something Matt had asked.  
Annabelle didn’t waste another second before high-tailing it out of the Grill.

Preview for next chapter:

Klaus stormed out of his house, his eyes narrowed in anger. Seeing the unknown girl standing in front of him, he paused. Annabelle smiled at him, a big excited grin and said, "Papa..."  
Klaus stared at her, a blank expression on his face. Annabelle increased her pace, almost running up to him, until she felt a sharp blow to her stomach and went flying across the yard slamming against a tree. 

Annabelle groaned and turned her head to look at her attacker, her eyes meeting those of the yellow hybrid eyes of her father...


End file.
